LCB reviews Starters Riverport liquor license

Police have been called to the Bethlehem bar dozens of times in past two years.

After being cited by Bethlehem police numerous times for fights and other… (MICHAEL KUBEL, THE MORNING…)

August 24, 2012|By Tyrone Richardson and Pamela Lehman, Of The Morning Call

After being cited by Bethlehem police numerous times for fights and other incidents, Starters Riverport's liquor license may be in jeopardy.

"The license is under review by the Nuisance Bar Program due to the number of citations they have had," Stacey Witalec, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, said Friday.

In the past two months, Bethlehem police have been called to testify before the LCB in a hearing about Starters that concluded this week. Witalec said the board will make a decision "in the next few months" on whether the popular south Bethlehem sports bar and restaurant will keep its liquor license.

Starters, which is in the Lehigh Riverport development on W. Second Street, continues to serve liquor under temporary authority, Witalec said.

Bethlehem police Chief Jason Schiffer said a "large number" of officers from his department received subpoenas to testify before the LCB about all calls they responded to in and around Starter's Riverport in the past year.

Starters has tallied 68 police calls in two years, which includes calls for assaults as well as for traffic crashes and sick people Schiffer said.

The Bethlehem restaurant, which seats 400 in the dining room and offers game rooms and a banquet facility, is the flagship of the Starters regional chain that includes Starters Clubhouse Grille at the Bethlehem municipal golf course and Staters Pub on Route 378 in Lower Saucon Township.

Starters opened in 2006 in the Lehigh Riverport, a nearly $30 million project that converted an old industrial building into a fitness center, condominiums and a nearly 500-space garage.

The Riverport restaurant has been the scene of some high-profile police incidents in recent years. In 2010, a near-riot began on the second floor, resulting in a security guard being treated at a hospital for a severe cut to his head. Last October, a man believed to be targeting a group standing in front of the bar fired a weapon outside Starters, police said.

On June 30, an Allentown man was charged with firing a handgun inside the parking garage.

Starters owner Dave Rank, who hires off-duty Bethlehem police to provide security on weekends, said he has implemented measures to thwart problems.

"The issues are Friday and Saturday nights," Rank said. "What we have done now is limit the number of people in the restaurant and changed the style of music we play."

Patrons will now hear more top 40 than club music.

Rank said he's confident the changes will convince LCB officials that the problems will not continue.

"Our belief is that the changes we have implemented and are in the process of putting into place, in addition to discussions with the city of Bethlehem and listening to their advice, will minimize the issues that have been occurring," he said. Rank said Riverport has shifted its focus to the restaurant, which has new menu items and new activities such as bingo and trivia night.

"We want to be what we were when we started, not a nightclub," he said.

Joe Kelly, Bethlehem's director of community and economic development, said the city reached out to Rank and other business owners earlier this year to suggest ways to reduce police incidents and improve business.

"We want to ensure that restaurants continue to be economic drivers for the environment," he said.

Starters is the latest south Bethlehem bar to face the possible loss of its license.

Last year, The Firehouse was investigated by Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli as a potential nuisance bar because of complaints from residents and police.

Police documented 65 calls at the bar a 12-month period, among them reports of fighting, false alarms, public drunkenness and excessive noise, officials have said. Morganelli concluded The Firehouse, which has since closed, was not a nuisance .

Morganelli did not respond to calls about Starters.

The LCB has reined in some nuisance bars in recent years.

Trinkle's Café in center city Allentown was shut down in 2009 after the LCB did not renew its liquor license. The Turner Street bar had been the site of a series of shootings, stabbings and drug deals. The LCB's action followed a Lehigh County judge's order to close Trinkle's after a man was shot outside and stumbled into the bar seeking help.